Fox Heat

for Bara Spicakova, Gymnasium Arabska, Prague 1999

When they told her at The Institute of Fine Art
that she had no talent for painting,
she painted her bedroom windows
            black –

not because she disagreed
with the man in the gray suit,  
not because she was depressed,

not because her parents
bought her beige
and lavender paint.

The girl with red hair  
painted her windows black     
because foxes sleep in dark dens,
warmed by fox breath,

because the blankets of foxes
            are other foxes,
and when they curl themselves
around the night
there is no sound, not

            no or yes
or maybe                     
or you must understand.

She weaves pine and maple
into her hair
and makes her bed
            with stone and twigs.

Trees grow near her bed,
willow and oak                        
mushrooming through the ceiling,
surprising her parents.

The wind is just another
fox dreaming  
fox dreams
in the dark cave
of fox heat.